The
Great O Antiphons: A Service for Advent 4
Opening
Prayer
The
Spirit and the church cry out:
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
All
those who await his appearance pray:
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The
whole creation pleads:
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
A candle burns, the
first marker of our Advent journey.
As we set out,
may we travel full of hope.
As
we set out, God of journeys, let your hope travel with us.
A candle burns, the second marker of our Advent journey.
As we continue, may we seek to
find peace.
As
we continue, God of journeys, speak to us of peace.
A candle burns, the third marker of our Advent journey.
As we continue, may we travel
with joy.
As
we continue, God of journeys, fill us with your wisdom.
A candle burns, the fourth marker of our Advent journey.
As we continue, may we find
fellow travellers.
As
we carry on, God of journeys, let you love be our guide.
Opening
Hymn – O Come, O Come
Emmanuel performed by Steve Bell
Collect
Almighty God, who chose the
Virgin Mary, full of grace, to be the mother of our Lord and Saviour, now fill
us with your grace, that we in all things may embrace your will and, with her,
rejoice in your salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Sixth Antiphon: O King!
O King of the nations, and their desire, the
cornerstone making both one: Come and save the human race, which you fashioned
from clay.
Lord Jesus, come soon!
O Rex Gentium by Malcolm Guite
O King of our desire whom we
despise,
King of the nations never on the
throne,
Unfound foundation, cast-off
cornerstone,
Rejected joiner, making many one:
You have no form or beauty for our
eyes,
A King who comes to give away his
crown,
A King within our rags of flesh and
bone.
We pierce the flesh that pierces our
disguise,
For we ourselves are found in you
alone.
Come to us now and find in us your
throne,
O King within the child within the
clay,
O hidden King who shapes us in the
play
Of all creation. Shape us for the day
Your coming Kingdom comes into its own.
A brief silence
for reflection.
The Seventh Antiphon: O Emmanuel!
O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver, the hope of
the nations and their Saviour: Come and save us, O Lord our God.
Lord Jesus, come soon!
O Emmanuel by Malcolm Guite
O come, O come, and be our
God-with-us,
O long-sought With-ness for a world
without,
O secret seed, O hidden spring of
light.
Come to us Wisdom, come unspoken
Name,
Come Root, and Key, and King, and
holy Flame,
O quickened little wick so tightly
curled,
Be folded with us into time and
place,
Unfold for us the mystery of grace
And make a womb of all this wounded
world.
O heart of heaven beating in the
earth,
O tiny hope within our hopelessness,
Come to be born, to bear us to our
birth,
To touch a dying world with new-made hands
And make these rags of time our swaddling
bands.
A brief silence
for reflection.
The Readings
A Reading from the Second Book
of Samuel 7:1-11,
16
Now when the king was settled
in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him,
the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar,
but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that
you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”
But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.
Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be the God.
Canticle 18 (Luke 1:46-55) – The Song of Mary
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my
Saviour;
for
he has looked with favour on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations
will call me blessed:
the
Almighty has done great things for me,
and
holy is his name.
He has mercy on those who fear
him
in
every generation.
He has shown the strength of
his arm,
he
has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty
from their thrones,
and
has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with
good things,
and
the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his
servant Israel,
for
he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our
fathers,
to
Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory to the Father, and to the
Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as
it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.
Amen.
A Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans 16.25-27
Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my
gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the
mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through
the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the
command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith – to the only
wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Gradual Hymn – Magnificat
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke 1:26-38
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
In
the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called
Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of
David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings,
favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and
pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be
afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in
your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and
will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the
throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this
be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come
upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the
child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your
relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the
sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible
with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with
me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
The Gospel of Christ.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Sermon
Guest Preacher - Rev Courtenay Reedman Parker, Messiah Lutheran Church
Here we are on the 4th and final Sunday
of Advent. This season of waiting and watching. Of wondering and wandering.
We began four weeks ago with an ending… with end times… with things being revealed. And what gets revealed but hope and encouragement that God is not only here but in control. That before the new things can begin, the old thing must end.
Advent moves from that first week, to reveal who and where God is - here with us!
John the Baptist calls us not only to prepare the way for the one who is to come, but to change our ways - to look at, and examine the perspectives we hold that prevent us from seeing God before and around us.
John calls us to witness to the ways we see, understand, and experience God. Our witness shapes and informs our faith… our understanding of who God is… of who we are and who God calls us to be in the world - and even how others experience God through us.
Usually when we hear these texts, we maybe think about the ways God is preparing us, calling us, pushing us to new ways of being and understanding in the world. We might think about the ways in which God is turning the world around. Many of us - myself included, have nodded along with the idea of change, without actually changing a thing - from the way we understand our God, to the way in which our traditions unfold with military like precision and predictability. And that’s not a critique but a recognition of our humanness. We thrive on predictability and consistency.
Which is why it’s always something to see and know and understand God in a new way.
Because when things are revealed, it’s hard to see them if we aren’t looking, or haven’t done any background work to prepare for what is coming - even, if it turns out that what happens isn’t at all what we prepared for, or doesn’t go to plan!
But this pandemic, and the changes and adaptations we have made in our lives, in worship and ministry, in our plans and preparations for this Christmas season that is not the way we hoped, planned, or want - they have forced us to see and experience this Advent, this coming of God into our world, in a new way. In a hard and sometimes painful way.
Because when we can’t be disciples, when we can’t follow or worship God in the ways we are used to… when we can’t do the things or gather in the ways we know, we might wonder, “Am I still faithful?”
Which brings us to this last and final week of Advent.
Today we sit and ponder with Mary what it means to have found favour with God, what it means to have God show up in our lives, in our world and turn everything we thought we knew upside down.
Before the waiting, the preparation, the anticipation there was… perplexing and pondering. Confusion and contemplation.
Mary was going about her business, about her life, when she was stopped in her tracks and told what would happen to her. And the plans God has for Mary are not insignificant. “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son”.
Mary is not asked about how this will impact her life, or the plans that she has. There is no consideration given to how Mary thinks or feels about what will happen to her, to her body, her life, and her livelihood.
This will be life-changing for Mary, and not in the usual, having a baby is going to change your life sort of way. Women’s worth in ancient Israel was entirely dependent on the man to whom they belonged, beginning with their father and then to their husbands. To have a baby outside of marriage was life-ending for women. They would bring shame to their family. No one would marry them. If they weren’t killed they were as good as dead because no one would want them.
Consider then, what God is telling Mary and her response. “How can this be?”
Luke’s gospel does what no other gospel does. Luke invites us into Mary’s experience of the incarnation. An unconventional and unusual move to consider a woman’s perspective in a world where a woman’s worth was completely tied to her ability to bear male heirs for her husband.
How can this be...
God is supposed to FIX our problems not create them.
God is supposed to help make our plans come to fruition, not derail them. What gives?
We have this expectation of who God is, of how God will show up in our lives, in the lives of others, in our communities and in our churches. And we’re pretty annoyed, if not perplexed when God shows up in unexpected and unanticipated ways.
How can this be? …
Which actually says more about us than it does about God. Because God continually shows up unannounced, unexpected, and unplanned. God has a proven track record of this.
And on this final Sunday of Advent, before the labour pains and birth cries, before the hallelujahs and gloria in excelsis deo, we encounter Mary. Unsuspecting and unprepared for what God has in store for her. God who comes to Mary through Gabriel and calls her favoured one - she has been set apart - not because she is particularly special, but because God has called her to participate in God’s plan for the world in this very particular way.
“Do not be afraid… for nothing is impossible with God,” Gabriel says.
And what do we fear at our core but that we aren’t seen. Or heard. Or understood. That we aren’t known.
“Do not be afraid,” is recognition that God sees Mary. That God sees us. Hears us. Understands us. God knows us.
We have a tendency to underestimate God and ourselves… underestimate what God is capable of doing in and through us.
Through Mary, we experience the articulation of the very real possibility that nothing is impossible with God. Mary’s song, heard earlier in the Psalm, gives way to the presence of God, because she has experienced the impossible becoming possible in. her. body.
“Mary did you know?”
“Yes! The Angel Gabriel told me. And I talked about it after with Auntie Liz.”
Mary’s words foreshadow the ministry of her very son. She acknowledges what God has done - for her, and what her son will do for the world.
There is no going back to normal. Not for Mary. Not for the disciples who follow Jesus. Not for us. Not for the Word made flesh.
God is doing a new thing. And God invites us, calls us, uses our whole selves to bring new life into the world. And not because we have prepared enough, but because God prepares us.
So if on this day you are afraid or perplexed by this good news, by the news of the world that is overwhelming and confusing. If you are in the space between “how can this be?” And “nothing is impossible with God” you are not alone.
“On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, Mary reminds us of what it looks like
and what it sounds like when God shows up in your life -- unannounced,
unexpected, and unplanned. And this is an important reminder as this season of
the church year draws to a close.” -Rev. Dr. K. Lewis[1]
God shows up in our lives, in our world, with plans for us. Plans that have us perplexed and pondering. Plans that have us wondering “how can this be?” because they are outrageous and usually not at all what we have imagined for our lives... for our ministry.
“Greetings favoured one,” God says to us, “The Lord is with you.”
Because we are God’s favoured people. Not because of what we do, not because of the status we hold or positions we have attained but because God calls us beloved... loved... favoured.
In baptism God calls us sons and daughters. In baptism, God calls us to new life. God frees us from our sin - from the roles and expectations of this world - and gives us new identity as beloved children of God.
By water and the Word God delivers us from sin and death
and raises us to new life in Jesus Christ. We are united with all the baptized
in the one body of Christ, anointed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and
joined in God's mission for the life of the world.[2]
In baptism, God chooses us. Like Mary, we too find out that God’s plans for us are often much different than what we imagine for ourselves.
But that is who God is. God chooses us. Unsuspecting, usually unprepared, God chooses us to participate in God’s mission for the world. And when that happens, God often turns the world - our world - upside down. God continues to cause us to be perplexed, to ponder what on earth God is up to.
And so on this 4th and final Sunday of Advent, in the midst of global pandemic, before the world is turned upside down with new life, we go back to the beginning.
Before the waiting and anticipating. Before the questions and concerns. Before birth pains and baby’s cries to Mary’s call.
What we hear again is God’s promise:
You are God’s favoured one. The Lord is with you.
May it be so. Amen.
Affirmation of Faith
Let us confess the faith of our baptism, as we say the Nicene
Creed:
We believe in
one God,
the Creator,
the Almighty,
maker of
heaven and earth,
of all that is,
seen and unseen.
We believe in
one Redeemer, Jesus Christ,
the only Child
of God,
eternally
begotten of the Creator,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from
true God,
begotten, not
made,
one in being
with the Creator:
Through the
Redeemer all things were made.
For us and for
our salvation
Jesus Christ
the Redeemer
came down from
heaven:
by the power
of the Holy Spirit
was born of
the Virgin Mary, and became human.
For our sake
Jesus was crucified
under Pontius
Pilate,
suffered, died
and was buried,
and, on the
third day, rose again
in fulfillment
of the Scriptures,
ascended into
heaven
and is seated
at the right hand of God.
Jesus Christ
will come again in glory
to judge the
living and the dead,
and the Reign
of God will have no end.
We believe in
the Holy Spirit,
the
Sanctifier, the Giver of Life,
who proceeds
from God the Creator
and Jesus
Christ the Redeemer,
who with the
Creator and the Redeemer,
is worshipped
and glorified
and who has
spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in
one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge
one baptism
for the
forgiveness of sins.
We look for
the resurrection of the dead
and the life
of the world to come. Amen.
The Prayers of
the People
(Intercessions for
the Christian People)
Rejoicing with Mary that the word comes among us,
let us offer to God our prayers, saying: Lord, hear our prayer.
May we find in Mary, the servant of the Lord, the model of our heart’s willing surrender to God’s Call.
For this, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
May we discover in true spiritual virginity the richness of what God alone can do to make Christ come alive in Mary, in us, and in all the world.
For this, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
May the God of mystery who dwells in unapproachable light draw us more and more deeply into the path of divine wisdom beyond all human expectation.
For this, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
May our assembly of disciples be a womb and a place for the shaping of Christ by God’s power, so that we may give birth to Christ from the womb of our community for the world.
For this, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
May our deepest hearts find strength in the gift of blessed hope that what God has begun to do in our world and in all our persons by Christ’s saving work will be brought to its fullness by our Saviour.
For this, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
May we remember before God all who are in any need and who cry for the presence of God, those whom we name aloud and those known only to God.
For this, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Please take time to offer your own intercessions or to pray in silence.
Call us to yourself, O God, as you called Mary, that we may be formed into a dwelling of holiness, giving life to all the peoples of the world through Mary’s son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Silence
Almighty God,
as your blessed
Redeemer Jesus Christ
first came to seek and
to save the lost;
so may he come again to
find in us
the completion of his
redeeming work;
for he is now alive
and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Confession and Absolution
Dear friends in Christ,
God is steadfast in love and infinite in mercy; God
welcomes sinners and invites them to the table. Let us confess our sins,
confident in God’s forgiveness.
(Silence)
Most merciful
God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by
what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with
our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbour as ourselves. We are truly
sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your son Jesus Christ, have mercy
on us and forgive us, that we might delight in your will, and walk in your
ways, to the glory of your name. Amen.
Almighty God, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
God will speak peace to his people, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And also with
you.
Offertory Hymn – Gabriel’s Message performed by King’s College Choir
Prayer over the Gifts
**Although not
physically at our church buildings to share our offering together I would
encourage you to set your offering of money aside so that it can be dropped off
or placed in the church once services resume, to mail your offering to the
church, or to make donations online. Please remember ministry is still taking
place.
Let us pray.
Gracious God, by the power of the Spirit who sanctified the
mother of your Son, make holy all we offer you this day. We ask this in the
name of Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.
And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray,
Our Father,
who art in heaven,
Hallowed be
thy name.
Thy kingdom
come,
Thy will be
done,
On earth as it
is in heaven.
Give us this
day our daily bread.
And forgive us
our trespasses,
As we forgive
those who trespass against us.
Save us from
the time of trial,
And deliver us
from evil.
For thine is
the kingdom,
The power, and
the glory,
For ever and
ever. Amen.
Doxology
Glory to God,
Whose power, working in us, can do infinitely
more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in
the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.
Blessing
Let
us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Almighty
God bless us, defend us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
Closing Hymn – Joy to the World (BCP #154)
Dismissal
As we await our coming Saviour,
go in the peace of Christ.
Thanks
be to God.
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